Chapter 3 : The Hound of Hebron (4)
Chapter 3 : The Hound of Hebron (4)
Inside the Levadein Duchy.
Agnes stepped down from Kaltara's arms and stood upright, saying,
"Thanks for bringing me."
"Don't mention it."
Kaltara laughed heartily.
Agnes smiled back at her and pointed toward the inside of the mansion.
"Would you like to have a cup of tea before you go?"
The reception room was in the direction she pointed.
Kaltara blinked, then nodded with the brightest smile she had shown all day.
"Hmm, that's what I was waiting to hear."
It was a cryptic remark.
*
The reception room of the Levadein Duchy was spacious.
It wasn't just spacious; every single ornament placed within it displayed the status of this household.
However, precious treasures that could only be obtained with power, not just wealth, sat behind the person in the seat of honor like a halo.
Kaltara drew a deep smile at that malicious arrangement.
"The young lady is quite amusing."
"How long are you going to keep pretending to be an idiot?"
Agnes stopped sipping her tea and asked that.
She was smiling, but she wasn't smiling.
To put it simply, even though she was wearing a smile, there wasn't a hint of joy in her expression.
"It seems like Deltain is letting it slide, but I'm petty, so I can't tolerate that."
It was a demand to show her true colors.
Agnes was certain.
She was certain that the masochist Kaltara was a very clever woman.
"You're certainly different. From other girls."
Kaltara let out a snicker.
"Especially the fact that you actually have a brain."
Kaltara's complexion changed.
Instead of the hearty smile she had shown until then, she wore a very sharp smile.
Her muscles bulged as she picked up the teacup.
It was a monstrous body, but the etiquette she displayed was so perfect it was admirable.
"You know? I've seen plenty of people like you, young lady."
"There are others like me? You're a braggart, aren't you?"
"I mean I've seen plenty of girls who don't know their place."
Kaltara's smile was cold.
Its temperature was similar to Agnes's smile.
"Girls raised in luxury are generally foolish. They've always been protected, so they don't know their place. They don't realize that, at the end of the day, they're just the same creatures who die when their heads are smashed in."
"Is there anyone stupid enough not to know that?"
"Young lady, I'm talking about you."
Agnes's eyebrows twitched.
"I know. That people die quite easily."
"You don't. If you did, you wouldn't be able to hold your head up so high in front of me."
"You can't kill me."
"I can. Just by spewing out mana from here without lifting a finger."
Kaltara laughed as if she were pleased.
"Do you know why I'm telling you this?"
"You want to tell me to stay away from Deltain, right?"
"It's good that I don't have to say much."
Kaltara sipped her tea.
Even to her, it was quite a luxurious scent.
"You see, I despise the weak. I despise them to the point of nausea. That's why I liked my hometown in the West. The weak are culled and return to nature."
"That's barbaric."
"It's following the laws of nature."
"If you liked it so much, why didn't you keep living there?"
"Wouldn't I be here because there's a reason for me to be here?"
"Is Deltain the reason? Do you like Deltain?"
"Not in a sexual sense. I just like the Boss's power."
Kaltara's smile deepened.
"Because an opponent you can't kill no matter what you do is quite the target to stir up a warrior's competitive spirit."
"The word 'masochist' fits you perfectly."
"Anyway, back to what I was saying."
Kaltara stared intently at Agnes.
"I can't stand seeing a weakling like you acting all high and mighty without knowing your place. It turns my stomach to see you flapping your tongue insolently when you should be bowing your head like the weakling you are. But, if you're by the Boss's side, I have to keep seeing that, don't I?"
"Is that the reason?"
"It's a very important matter."
Kaltara said that and put down the teacup.
The sofa screamed, struggling to bear her weight, but Kaltara leaned back against it without a care in the world.
"Young lady, I don't want you hanging around the Boss."
"And if I refuse?"
"I'll have to break your neck."
"Deltain wouldn't like that, would he?"
"You're mistaken about something, young lady. The Boss has always disliked me. He just keeps me around because he needs my strength. That would be the same even if I broke your neck. The Boss can't abandon me."
"How pitiful. You obey like a dog, yet you aren't loved?"
"Don't divert the subject. I could snap your neck right here. I don't have much patience."
Kaltara's demeanor became quite menacing.
Agnes was still just smiling faintly.
"You're mistaken about something too."
"What is it?"
"Why do you think I'm weak?"
"You have such a frail body, so you are weak."
"Wrong. This body is a handicap."
Agnes's smile deepened.
"If I were healthy on top of everything else, I'd be too perfect. It would be too easy. So, it's a handicap that exists on purpose."
Agnes put down her teacup and crossed her legs.
Interest flickered in Kaltara's eyes.
"Ho, I've met opponents like this before. A girl drunk on authority she didn't earn with her own power, a girl full of herself because of beauty that will just wither with age. And a girl who tries to suppress me with those things. Now, which one are you going to show me?"
"You're all wrong. And I have zero interest in you."
"The reason you called me here is the Boss, isn't it? It must have been because you were annoyed by how close I am with the Boss."
"As if. Why would I consider a muscle pig like you a rival?"
Agnes giggled as if she had heard something ridiculous.
"It's the same as you, I just don't like you. Especially the way you carelessly lay your hands on my things when all you have is strength."
"What gives you the confidence to say that?"
"A lot. There are many reasons for my confidence, but if I had to pick one, it's that. Because just by existing, I am a meaningful person to Deltain."
"You said the Demon Flower is embedded in your heart. That's why the Boss is looking for you."
"That's part of me too. But it doesn't matter even if it weren't. I'm precious to Deltain without having to prove it like you."
Agnes knew it too.
How her provoking Deltain like this would look to a third party.
How cheeky it would appear.
But, did that matter at all?
To her, the gaze of others didn't matter in the slightest.
There was only one thing she desired and obsessed over.
To engrave the existence of Agnes Levadein into Deltain's heart forever.
"You'll be discarded once you've outlived your usefulness. But I will be someone Deltain misses forever."
"I'll have to kill you before that happens."
"Go ahead and try. Well, it might already be too late."
Deltain Hebron will come to love her.
No, he probably already has those feelings to some extent.
That was why she was so certain.
The moment this insignificant life fades away, he will sink into a swamp he can never escape from.
Agnes was someone with more than enough ability to realize that.
"The only reason I brought you here is one thing. I wanted to tell you not to insolently interfere with my business."
Agnes's smile was as cold as frost.
Kaltara let out a snicker.
"What, are you planning to sleep with the Boss? Are you thinking of trapping the Boss by getting pregnant with his kid?"
"Yes, I'm going to sleep with Deltain. But I won't have a child."
Kaltara's laughter stopped.
It wasn't just because of her words that she acted that way.
It was because the look in Agnes's eyes, which changed the moment she said that, had a truly bizarre gleam.
Kaltara thought.
That the eyes she was facing right now were just like a doll you'd find somewhere in that shopping district.
"I'm going to sleep with Deltain. A lot. In every possible way. Day and night, without exception. And every time, I'll tell Deltain. You can't sleep with anyone but me. Even if you do, you'll think of me in that moment."
No, calling her a doll was an understatement.
At least the dolls Kaltara knew didn't harbor heat in their eyes.
Even if it was a coldly frozen heat.
"It's not just sleeping. I will make Deltain miss me in every moment—the moment he opens his eyes, the moment he eats, every moment he spends walking and stopping throughout the day, and even the moment he ends his day and falls asleep. To do that, I will build memories of all those moments with Deltain."
It was bizarre, truly bizarre.
I swear, Kaltara had never seen such a bizarre look in her entire life.
This made Kaltara feel curious.
She wanted to grasp the source of that look and heat.
"So you're saying you'll keep acting cheeky for that reason?"
"Yes, I'm going to torment Deltain. The more I do, the more Deltain will feel my presence."
The conversation stopped.
The two women stared straight into each other's eyes.
Agnes's gaze was in the form of looking down on something more insignificant than herself, while Kaltara's gaze was in the form of peeking at the unknown.
While the silence continued for a while.
"...Huh."
Kaltara let out a dry laugh.
She realized it only then.
"Young lady, you have no intention of living, do you?"
Kaltara no longer attached the word 'girl' to her.
It wasn't out of respect.
Kaltara wasn't even seeing Agnes as a human being.
After all, how could you see something without the will to live as a living creature?
"Right, you intend to die. The Demon Flower or your frail body isn't the problem. Even if all those things were solved, you wouldn't have any intention of living."
Kaltara let out a snicker.
This was a reaction that arose from the unfamiliarity she felt upon meeting a type of person she had never seen in her life.
Come to think of it, it was.
Every creature Kaltara had met in her life was the type that struggled desperately to survive.
From insignificant cripples to the Emperor of the Empire.
Beyond that, the demons of the other dimension and even that Deltain, all of them.
To such a Kaltara, Agnes, who was obsessed with remaining in someone else's memory rather than her own life, was a truly peculiar creature.
"Pfft, Hahaha!"
Kaltara burst into laughter.
Agnes was still smiling faintly.
"What are you laughing at? It's unpleasant."
"Ah, pfft...! Hicc...!"
Kaltara slapped her knees and laughed.
"You're broken. You're properly broken!"
It was pleasant.
Kaltara finally understood everything.
"Right, I admit it. I can't instill even a bit of fear in you, young lady. The power I possess can break a will, but it cannot straighten a broken will."
"Do you know now? That you're nothing special."
"Of course! I admit it!"
Kaltara laughed heartily.
Agnes still just maintained her smile.
"I cannot harm you, young lady. No, I've lost the desire to harm you. I've found something I want to see!"
"What, do you want to see Deltain crying and missing me? Congratulations. You will definitely see that."
"No!"
Kaltara opened her eyes wide.
A sharp light shimmered in her grey pupils.
"I want to see you howling that you want to live."
"I don't think that will happen."
"Well, I have a feeling you'll be clinging to life miserably."
Agnes's brow furrowed slightly.
It was the first sign of displeasure she had shown today.
Kaltara silently admired that expression, then stood up with a satisfied face.
"The Boss is persistent. And he always wins with that persistence."
She said that and left the reception room.
After the door slammed shut with a 'thud', Agnes stared at the door for a long time with an unreadable expression.